Tag Archives: snugg

Since my shiny new iPhone 6 (4.7″ version) arrived a week or so ago, I’ve been keeping it my pocket, unprotected by a case. For the past few years, I’ve used iPhone cases that I’d describe as leather slip pouches, where you slide your phone inside and remove it by pulling a toggle that lifts the phone out of the pouch. I guess it’s just personal preference, but I prefer to use my iPhone unhindered by cumbersome addenda. This type of case allows me to carry it around protected, but to be able to easily remove it from the case, so I can use it as Apple intended.

After ordering my iPhone 6, I had a look around for this type of case, but there were none that caught my eye. I used to use a Snugg case for my iPhone 5, which I liked a lot, but their iPhone 6 version isn’t yet available and is only available to pre-order in black, which I’m not so keen on:

After a bit more looking around, I found the Issentiel “Allure” range of iPhone 6 pouches in a variety of colours. They’re a bit pricey at £29.90, but a bit different too, so I thought I’d give them a go.

I ordered a case from their website direct, which I was able to pay for via PayPal, so plus points for not making me type my card details. They dispatched the case, which I was able to track on its journey from France via FedEx tracking. When it arrived, it came in a well packaged parcel, in a rather unnecessarily fancy box.

Opening the box revealed a sock for my leather pouch to live in. Again, a bit of an unnecessary extravagance.

Then, I got to the pouch itself and first impressions were good. It has a good quality feel, with nice detailing.

I’ve been using it for a couple of days now and over the course of daily use, I’ve made the following observations, positive and negative:

+ I really like the style & colour. I was initially a bit unsure about the blue, but I like it. It’s different.+ When I pull the toggle to remove the phone, a good 1/3 of the phone pops out. Some other cases have much shorter toggles where just a slither of phone is released & you have to grapple it out of the case

– When the phone is in the case in my pocket, the ringer is more muted than I’d expect, meaning I end up turning up the volume, which then startles me when it’s on my desk outside of the case and it rings more loudly than I expect. This is probably because the holes in the bottom of the case for the speaker don’t line up at all with the actual speaker! Bit of a design flaw in my opinion. My old Snugg case for the iPhone 5 had the holes in just the right place.
The tab that you pull to remove the phone doesn’t have a magnet built into it. My old Snugg case had a magetic tab, which used to attach itself to the case to keep it in place. I liked this. In comparison, this one just flops about. The plus side is that the tab itself is thinner and causes less of a bulge on the back of the case. I’m not even sure how useful the little magnet was in my old case, but I miss it all the same.

Summary:

I think overall, I like the Issentiel case. The style and range of colours are great and a bit different from other cases on the market. I do think they’re a bit pricey though. The Snugg case is half the price (£14.99 vs. £29.90 for the Issentiel) and looks better designed in terms of functionality. Although the Snugg is currently only available in black leather, I’m sure more options will become available in time. I’d rather Issentiel saved some money on the overly fancy packaging and either spent it on development to put the speaker holes in the right place, or just made the thing cheaper.